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Velociraptor
link title 'Velociraptor '''was a wolf-sized theropod that hunted in packs. It lived in Mongolia 75-71.5 million years ago, and was one of the smartest dinosaurs. Its main food source would have been animals like Protoceratops. There is an absolutely stunning Palaeontological find from 1971 of a Velociraptor mongoliensis, wrapped in mortal combat with a Protoceratops, both biting and slashing at each other, and both emtombed within a sanddune as it swallowed them up alive during either a flashfood or sandstorm. Palaeontologists can actually see the killing claw in suspended animation; quite simply it is an impossible find, billions to one odds, find with great fortune, a 'holy grail' of Palaeontology on par with the ''Sue Tyrannosaurus rex find. Velociraptor means Swift Seizer. Jurassic Park hysteria has wrongly caused many millions of people to become familiar with the name 'Velociraptor'. However, it is interesting to understand that for one, the general public were largely unaware of this Theropod Dinosaur, and that for two the fame itself is rather undeserved. In truth, Spielberg wanted the name Velociraptor - not the real animal, which was far smaller than the vicious villians of his blockbuster. He transplanted the name of Velociraptor, onto the body of Deinonychus; the far larger cousin of Velociraptor that lived some 50 million years earlier than it (Dromaeosaurs seem to have got smaller over their evolution in general numbers, with the gigantic Utahraptor being one of the oldest but the single largest) Deinonychus was truly the size of the killers in the films, but Spielberg preferred the catchier name (and he was right about that, as we as know the name Velociraptor is household for some reason) Velociraptor, doubtless for dramatic and commercial effect. Even so, the turkey sized Velociraptor was a deadly killer in its own right, especially as it formed marauding packs that could tackle much larger prey than itself - still, the 'real' Velociraptor, wasn't quite as nasty as many people may think - being far smaller, feathered (at least on it's arms), and only capable of taking on sheep sized prey in packs. Appearance Nobody knows what any animal that lived before humans, including "Velociraptor", looked like. In Jurassic Park, the Deinonychus (identified as Velociraptor) was 3.05 meters tall and 4.25 meters long. They were featherless and gray, the shape of the snout was rounded and the claw was used to disembowl. Deinonychus was capable of–like Velociraptor–reaching speeds of 120 km/h and crushing the skulls of victims with a bite force of 7,500 LBS. In Chased By Dinosaurs, Velociraptor was eggnog coloured, with green stripes on the back and they were featherless. They were the size of the real animal–2 meters long and 2 feet high at the head–and were capable of disembowling with the claw. They looked more like Coelophysis than Velociraptor. They would only reach speeds up to 56 km/h. In Dinosaur Planet, they were covered in white feathers and had a crest of feathers on their head; they were blue or white. They were the size of the real animal–2 meters long and 2 feet high at the head. The truth is that Velociraptor was 2 meters long and 2 feet high at the head. Their claw can pierce flesh but not disembowl it. They would reach the speed of a cheetah–120 km/h–and have a bite force of 2,500 LBS. Nobody knows what they looked like but it's estimated that they have pink skin, black back feathers and white feathers covering the entire body from the back of the head and elbows to the leg hocks and middle of the tail and a yellow beak-like face. Claws & Teeth One familiar feature is Velociraptor has razor-sharp claws on their hands and feet. The largest of the claws is a 3.5-inch claw on both feet. They could disembowl a human but some animals can't be easily disembowled. The claw can pierce flesh but not disembowl it. In order to disembowel, the underside of the claw would have to be razor-sharp edged like a steak knife. The underside of the claw is too smooth to allow the claw to disembowl. The Velociraptor would kill it's victims by stabbing the throat area and/or biting the nape of the neck or the skull. The bite of the raptor would, of course, crunch a bone in half to sever the spinal cord or clamp the brain up. Their curved-back razor-sharp teeth suggest that this animal was a carnivore. It was a ruthless killer with a bite force of 2,500 LBS. Velociraptor could prey on Protoceratops, Therizinosaurus, fish, Prenocephale, Bactrosaurus, Oviraptor, even other Velociraptors. Walking with Dinosaurs ﻿While Velociraptor sadly didn't appear in the main series, its close relative Dromaeosaurus did. Specials ﻿Velociraptor featured in 'The Giant Claw', the second episode of Chased By Dinosaurs. Velociraptor didn't look like what they did in real life. In this, it is seen hunting Protoceratops, and generally being a stealthy pack hunting menace to Nigel Marvin and his team, eventually chasing them through the forests by the lakeside. Nigel Marven uses a bicyle horn to confuse and startle them into leaving them alone and going away, after they manage to climb onto high level fallen trees. Trivia In Primeval, a Velociraptor chick came out of an anomaly at the airport in 3.4. The Evening crew was looking at the chick before Nigel gets bitten. The Velociraptor bites Nigel Marven on the finger and it ran back to its era. A Giganotosaurus pops his head out of the anomaly and swallows Nigel whole. Its version resembles the baby Dromaeosaurus from 2.1. Velociraptor was also featured in a novel of Primeval called Fire and Water. Velociraptor's last name, mongoliensis is the same last name for Andrewsarchus. Extinction Velociraptor probably became extinct in a Mongolian thunderstorm 71.5 million years ago. The storm eliminated prey by turning the sand to quicksand and raptors starved to extinction. If raptors didn't starve to extinction, then they would've died from the punch of the climate change. The prey, rainforests and jungles disappeared beneath the quicksand. As a result, Velociraptor's habitat was obliterated. During the Velociraptor extinction, a male raptor attacked a female Protoceratops by stabbing the throat with his claw and curved his neck. Protoceratops curved her spine and clamped her jaws around his arm. A flood of quicksand destroyed them both. In 1971, their fossil remains were discovered by paleontologists and became the most famous Velociraptor fossil ever discovered. Category:Dinosaurs Category:Carnivores Category:Theropods Category:Reptiles Category:Dromaeosaurid Category:Saurischia Category:Archosauria Category:Archosauriformes Category:Cretaceous Period Category:Mesozoic Era Category:Phanerozoic Eon Category:Walking with Dinosaurs Specials Category:Dinosaur Planet Category:chased by dinosaurs Category:Dinosaurs Category:Carnivores Category:Theropods Category:Reptiles Category:Dromaeosaurid Category:Saurischia Category:Archosauria Category:Archosauriformes Category:Cretaceous Period Category:Mesozoic Era Category:Phanerozoic Eon Category:Walking with Dinosaurs Specials Category:Dinosaur Planet Category:chased by dinosaurs Category:Primeval